Conclusion
I stick to my argument that the last ten years have given us the best decade of spy movies ever. I even liked Quantum of Solace. To me, Jason Bourne influenced the other two super spies more than viceversa, although we cannot ignore the fact that if Ian Fleming had never penned James Bond, neither Mission Impossible nor Jason Bourne would likely have existed. Nevertheless, in the first ten years or so of this century, both Ethan Hunt and especially James Bond modified their personalities, their attitude towards authority and most obviously their approach towards physically gruelling and intense action because of the worlds favourite amnesiac spy. This is ironic, as out of the three, Jason Bourne grossed the least at the Box Office, even though his critical scores where higher. Clearly, the high critic ratings for Bourne impacted on the producers of both Mission Impossible and James Bond. However, Ethan Hunt seemed to choose better the good bits and bad bits to lift from Bourne i.e. keeping an appropriate level of humour as well as intensifying the action and keeping more key formulaic elements required of a good Mission Impossible film. All this while James Bond seemed to suffer the biggest crisis of confidence, changing the most to meet this new challenge. Perhaps too paranoid by a weak outing in Die Another Day and too impressed by Jason Bourne, he rushed into a crossover storyline and over emphasised his rebellious, humourless and gadgetless aspects in Quantum of Solace. A risky move, especially as it is not clear yet whether the Bourne franchise did not back itself into a creative corner. Early reviews for the Bourne Legacy are mixed. The good news, though, is that James Bond is still massively loved by the general public and is still, I think, the number one secret agent in the world. In November we have the return of Q, Moneypenny and hopefully a few Martinis and some shits and giggles. If he keeps the physical intensity and faces a more stern physical and intellectual opponent in Javier Bardem, then we may have a really good one on our hands. Lets hope we are all left shaken and not stirred.